Black Rose
by Sgt. Sporky
Summary: Weiss catches Ruby drinking, of all things! But Weiss isn't in a mood for berating- so instead, she finds herself joining her partner and having a revealing conversation. Rated T due to alcohol and mention of violence.


Three in the morning. That was what time it was. It was freezing cold in the dorms, with the HVAC system broken. It was freezing cold, but Ruby felt warm. Her cheeks and nose had a red glow about them- probably had something to do with the bottle in her hand.

A bottle of Black Rose, a firey, potent malt whisky that burned the tongue and made the eyes water. Ruby wasn't a drinker, not usually. In fact, this was only the second time in her life she'd ever had alcohol, and the first she'd been drunk.

She was a miserable sort of drunk. Her face was a mess, eyes bloodshot, vision blurred. She'd never been drunk before, but tonight she decided she wanted to forget for a while.

She wanted to forget her grades were slipping. She wanted to forget that Weiss would probably never love her back. She wanted to forget the weight of her responsibilities as leader. Wanted to forget about her mother. To forget it all- that was what she wanted tonight.

Instead- as happens when one actively tries to forget- she was dwelling on it all. The pressure of keeping her grades up and her team on track was pushing her. Her unrequited love was crushing her chest. Her mother's memory was making her stomach churn.

She took another swig. If she wanted to forget, then damn it all, she'd do it. Even if it took a blackout for it to happen.

She was sat on the floor next to her bed, propped up against the wall. Her pajamas were comfortable, at least. She coughed a little- she wasn't used to how the liquor burned the throat. Suddenly, she groaned- that sound was definitely Weiss stirring. Ruby couldn't stow the bottle fast enough to avoid her partner's hissing disapproval. "What is that?!"

Ruby answered honestly, too inebriated to care or to come up with a decent lie. "It's whisky, Weiss."

The heiress frowned and sighed, sitting herself next to the little reaper. "... Give me some."

Ruby had to shake her head. "Er... What?"

"You heard me," Weiss shot back quietly. "Give me some of that. I'm going to forget who I am."

Ruby shrugged and passed the bottle, not bothering to question it. "Who you are or what you are?"

The heiress gave her a look and clarified. "That I'm a Schnee. ... Also, where did you get this and how?"

"Did you know you can change your age on your scroll's ID function if you play with the software enough? And that would be the what, by the way. Schnee is what you are, not who."

"That can not be legal."

"Neither is this. Who cares? Take your drink already. Jeez," Ruby groaned.

Weiss shrugged and took a swig- and promptly began coughing. "Ugh... Too used to wine."

"I thought you didn't drink."

"One glass of wine at dinner doesn't count," the heiress muttered, taking another drink. She hacked a little less this time. "Do you have more?"

"I wish. Damn it, just take the rest of the bottle. I'm already halfway through it and I'm just trying to forget, not trying to kill myself with alcohol poisoning."

"Eh, you're not allowed to die."

That made Ruby feel warm and fuzzy in a different way. "Really?"

"Of course not- you're our fearless leader. Besides, if you died it'd kill Yang and that'd kill Blake and then I'd be all alone again."

"Hey, don't you have a father and a sister? And, like, countless servants or whatever?" Ruby asked.

Weiss sighed. "You can be in a room full of people and still be all alone, Ruby. Trust me. That's the way it always is at home."

Ruby looked over at her, and took a good while to speak. "Then it's not really home, is it?"

Weiss gave her the look again. Who knew alcohol would make Ruby thoughtful and philosophical?

"I mean, home is a feeling, not a place," she went on. "I think your home is riiight here, don't you?"

Weiss sat back and sighed. It had been a few minutes and the drink was starting to kick in a little now. "I guess you're right. I'm always alone at the house, no matter how many people we invite over for dinner, no matter how many of the staff are there. But I can sit back with just one of you three and feel like I belong. Or at least I can now."

Ruby smiled. "That's great. So why are you trying to forget you're a Schnee, anyway? Seems like a good thing to be- rich and famous."

"You'd be surprised. There are certain expectations I have to meet, everywhere I go. I must be the perfect girl, always. No matter how many people I lose, no matter how in love I am and no matter how I feel. Because everyone knows I'm _his _daughter. Everyone sees Miss Schnee, the heiress, the businessman's daughter. Nobody sees Weiss." She groaned and rested her head against the wall.

"I see Weiss," Ruby offered. _And she is just so perfect, _she added in her mind.

"Thanks," the heiress sighed. "Didn't you say you were trying to forget something, too?"

"Yeah," she answered. "Mostly my mother."

Weiss winced. "You're not alone. White Fang got mine. What about you?"

"Grimm," Ruby replied simply. "She was a great huntress but it doesn't matter how good you are- any one person can only handle so many grimm at a time. I was so young, I just barely remember her. I only really know her face from pictures, and I only sort of know what her voice sounded like. I remember she was nice, though. The best mother a little girl could ever ask for. But other than that, it's all fuzzy and blurry.

You'd think that'd make it less painful," she went on, "but honestly? It makes it worse. Most of the people I grew up with had mothers their whole lives. It'd be easier to live with if I'd had time to know her and actually be raised by her. That would be different. But because it happened so early, I hardly had a mother to begin with. Just a blurry memory of a wonderful woman I love and miss a lot."

Weiss was suffering some serious sympathy pain. Maybe it was time to open up and do some sharing of her own. "I lost my mother pretty young, too. I'd just turned eight. We were coming home from the birthday party. She went to start the car and... There it went. Someone rigged the ignition to about a pound and a half of plastic explosives, according to the bomb squad experts who got there later. It was 'lucky' she'd gone on ahead while I said goodbye to the guests. And then, just like that, she was... She was gone."

Ruby looked over at her partner and saw an unusual sight indeed- Weiss was crying, tears silently running down her cheeks in the faint moonlight. Rather than bring it up, she turned almost on her side and wrapped her arms around the heiress. "That's awful... I can't imagine..."

"Neither can I... We both had it pretty bad. ... Really, we all did. You and Yang barely had a mother, Blake didn't have one at all, and I lost mine on my birthday to a car bomb. I don't think any of us could really be said to have it easy, even if it's for vastly different reasons. Fate has a sick sense of humor, lumping all of us together, doesn't it?" Weiss murmured, returning the embrace, grateful someone cared. "Every one of us living a totally different sham in a totally different way, and we're all on a team!"

Ruby stiffened. "We're not living shams."

"Huh?" Weiss managed.

"We're not living shams," Ruby repeated. "None of us are. I refuse to believe that. Our lives aren't perfect, but they're good. And if they're not good, we'll make them good, even if we have to completely kick out logic and do the impossible for it. That's the way Team RWBY rolls. We have eachother, and I don't know about everyone else, but that's good enough for me!"

Weiss looked a little shocked. Ruby was right, sure enough. She was also rather pleasantly warm. "You know what? It's good enough for me, too," she said, resting her head on her partner's, pulling closer. "And I think Blake and Yang feel the same."

Ruby looked down at the bottle of Black Rose that started this. It was mostly empty, but she took another swig for courage. _Now or never. _"Weiss? There was another thing I was trying to forget earlier."

"Talk to me. What is it?"

"I don't know how you'll take this. Actually, I'm too drunk to care. But did you know I've kind of had a huge crush on you for, like, forever?"

Weiss' cheeks were burning. Ruby could feel it through her hair, where the heiress' head rested. "You insufferable dunce... Why didn't you say anything sooner? Couldn't you tell how I felt about you?!"

It took Ruby a moment to get over her shock and respond. "Of course not- I'm bad with people. Everyone knows that!"

Weiss giggled a bit. "Of course."

The next noise that came from the heiress was a yelp, muffled a great deal by Ruby's lips on hers. There was no tongue- just a chaste kiss on the lips. But it was more than either of them would have dreamed a few hours ago, and they enjoyed it. They hid the bottle away and crawled into Wiess' bed together, with the mutual need to spend the night with one another. They threw the blankets over themselves, and held eachother tight, twining their legs together and sleeping an easier sleep than either had slept in a long time.

The next morning, they woke up with severe hangovers, but they remembered everything, and, unlike the average first time drunk, there was not a single regret to be had.


End file.
